Dear John,  

• HEAL Act Reintroduction
• HHS Secretary Becerra on Staying Covered During and Task Force Meeting Thursday
• USCIS Updates Public Charge Policy Manual

The HEAL for Immigrant Families Act (HEAL Act)  will soon be reintroduced in the 118th Congress next week!  The legislation:

• Removes unnecessary barriers to health care access for immigrant families;
• Provides access to public and affordable health coverage for people with DACA;
• Provides otherwise-eligible lawfully present immigrants access to Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) without a five-year waiting period;
• Allows undocumented immigrants to purchase subsidized health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace; and
• Allows states to expand Medicaid and CHIP programs to undocumented immigrants.

This landmark legislation is a critical step towards improving immigrant families’ access to health care, and PIF is proud to stand with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, NAPAWF and the HEAL coalition in support. 

Three ways you can take action to support the HEAL Act reintroduction: 

1. Call your Member of Congress and encourage them to cosponsor this bill! 
2. Sign onto the HEAL Coalition support letter, as well as an organizational endorsement form. The deadline for both is COB July 26. We are asking for partners to fill out both forms to signify their strong support. You can find a list of current signers here. 
3. Spread the word, to encourage partner organizations and coalition allies to sign on in support of the HEAL Act. Use the toolkit below to raise awareness and support.

Get the Toolkit

Last week, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra shared a video urging eligible people and families to act to avoid a loss in Medicaid coverage.  The 90 second video is available in English and Spanish, and includes messages to parents about how to keep their kids covered. Please amplify by sharing PIF’s tweet!

Outreach continues to be needed, with many states reporting large numbers of disenrollments for procedural reasons. Last week’s Texas Tribune highlighted that 500,000 Texans have been dropped by the Medicaid rolls since April. A shocking 81 percent of them were terminated for procedural reasons and not because the state determined that they were ineligible. 

The next meeting of the PIF Medicaid Unwinding Task Force is this Thursday, July 27, at 2 PM ET. Our special guest, Elizabeth Lukanen from the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC), will discuss their new report on state unwinding data reporting and answer questions. Email [email protected] for more information.

Last week the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its policy manual chapter about who is subject to a public charge determination.  The chapter clearly lists–all in one place–the categories of immigrants who are subject to, and exempt from, a public charge determination all in one place.  This is a helpful reference when filling out question 61 of a green card application which asks “Are you subject to the public charge ground of inadmissibility?”

Read the Updated Manual

Visit our website at www.pifcoalition.org

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